Vision of Love

Isaiah 7:10-16
10Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz, saying, 11Ask a sign of the Lord your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven. 12But Ahaz said, I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test. 13Then Isaiah said: ‘Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary mortals, that you weary my God also? 14Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel. 15He shall eat curds and honey by the time he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. 16For before the child knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land before whose two kings you are in dread will be deserted.

This is the Word of the LORD
Thanks be to God

John 1:1-18
1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was in the beginning with God. 3All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being 4in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. 5The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.

6There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. 8He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. 9The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.

10He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. 11He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. 12But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, 13who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.

14And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth. 15(John testified to him and cried out, ‘This was he of whom I said, “He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.” ’) 16From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. 17The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.

This is the Word of the LORD
Thanks be to God.

For four Sundays at the close of autumn, the church watches and waits for God's coming. For four Sundays at the close of autumn, we seek a vision of what the world should be like, will be like, when the light of God shines on all people. For four Sundays at the close of autumn, our eyes shimmer with the light that shines in the darkness.

King Ahaz of Judah is terrified. He's staring down the armies of Syria and Ephraim, who have invaded the kingdom of Judah to remove him from the throne and set up a king who will support their goals. Judah doesn't have the strength to stand again either nation, much less both together! The Syrians and Ephraimites have brought Judah to a crisis point, and Judah's king is terrified.

He's so gripped by fear that he cannot get out of it. Even his faith has been enslaved by his fear. When God whispers in the king's ear, offering him a sign to strengthen his faith, Ahaz reacts in fear. "The LORD spoke to Ahaz, saying, Ask a sign of the Lord your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven. But Ahaz said, I will not ask, and I will not put the LORD to the test." It's like he found a way to give the right reason for doing the wrong thing. God has drawn close to him and is offering him comfort, no matter how huge the sign needs to be. Ahaz backs away. He cannot accept the closeness of the LORD, and his terrified eyes cannot see reassuring signs. His fear has enslaved his faith, so he finds a way to refuse the grace of God in his theology. "I will not ask, and I will not put the LORD to the test."

Of course God is not the least bit bothered by Ahaz's refusal. God loves Judah too much to leave his people alone, even when they reject grace. The prophet stands in to give the sign that Ahaz did not request, the sign that God promised, the sign that Ahaz rejected. God sends his prophet Isaiah anyway.

The love of our LORD is so great that we do not get to refuse it. It’s just not an option. God’s love is certain. We cannot earn it, we cannot lose it, we can neither accept it nor refuse it. The love of God is an absolute truth for those whom he has chosen. Even Ahaz, the ruler of Judah who is ruled by fear, is powerless to stop the loving promise of his LORD.

For four Sundays at the close of autumn, the church watches and waits for God to enter history. For four Sundays at the close of autumn, we seek a vision of how the world will be renewed in the presence of the LORD. For four Sundays at the close of autumn, our eyes shimmer with reflection of the love of God for creation.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God.” Matthew traces Jesus’s origins to Abraham, the beginning of the covenant. Luke announces his ancestry as far as Adam, the beginning of humanity. But John goes all the way back to the beginning, the beginning of everything. “All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being.” The poetry revolving around the Word and the narrative introducing John are quilted together so that we can see beyond our fear, so that we can grasp theology in one hand and history in the other, and see that the LORD is indeed at work in the world.

The Word does the work of creation, and is the expression of God’s unending love. In a despairing world, so full of fear and so quick to anger, I find comfort in the truth that both our beginning and our end are held in the light of the LORD, even if our in-betweens lead us through darkness.

Because the vision of love that is passed through John shows us that “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.” No matter how tightly we close our eyes to God’s vision of love, no matter how trapped in darkness we are, the light still shines. What’s more, that light is not closeted away in heaven, it’s in the world, chasing the darkness away even when we refuse to follow it.

Ahaz is stuck in darkness. He only has eyes for a vision of fear, but the vision of love that he rejected is given to him anyway. Just as John testified to the light, so Isaiah testifies to God’s continuing love for Judah. “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel.” The sign is given, a sign of hope for the future. The sign points towards God’s love, and the presence of God in our midst. Ahaz’s fears may not be chased away, but God’s graciously loves anyway.

For four Sundays at the close of Autumn, the church celebrates the first season of its year. For four Sundays at the close of autumn, we seek a vision of light as the days grow darker. For four Sundays at the close of autumn, our eyes shimmer with love as our fears are made irrelevant by God’s grace.

Although we connect this Isaiah passage with the virgin birth of Jesus of Nazareth, Isaiah also pointed to a more immediate relief for Judah. The sieges of Ephraim and Syria would come to an end. The invasion and attacks would cease in the time it took a young woman to give birth and raise her child to choose the good and reject the evil. “He shall eat curds and honey by the time he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. For before the child knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land before whose two kings you are in dread will be deserted.” The intervention of the LORD is close at hand, and will be accomplished even before an unborn child can start to be responsible. Even in spite of the fear that has enslaved Ahaz’s faith, the continuing love of the LORD is as sure as the love of that young woman for her child.

The child doesn’t get a choice, and neither do the people of God. The vision of love we have been given is the love of a mother who will not forsake her nursing child. And even if we reject the vision, as Ahaz did, God’s grace and love are still given to us. “The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.”

We do not get to choose darkness, because the LORD has chosen us for light…

who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.

14And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth. 15(John testified to him and cried out, ‘This was he of whom I said, “He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.” ’) 16From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. 17The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.

For four Sundays at the close of autumn, the church watches and waits for the Word made flesh, Jesus of Nazareth. For four Sundays at the close of autumn, we seek a vision of love that will not let us go. For four Sundays at the close of autumn, our eyes shimmer as God the only Son makes the LORD known to us.

We have had our four Sundays, Behold, the king of glory waits; the savior of the world is here.

Alleluia, Amen.